No Time To Slow Down

Maintenance Crucial As Interstate System Turns 40

July 05, 1996

As you fly down the interstate highways of Virginia this long holiday weekend - at 65 mph, of course - offer a moment of thanks to President Eisenhower. On June 29, 1956, Ike signed into law the Federal-Aid Highway Act, setting in motion one of the greatest construction projects of modern times. Forty years later, a mobile nation cruises on 45,500 miles of multi-laned highway from coast to coast.

The impact on American life is inestimable. While cheap air travel may have transformed how business is conducted, the interstates have changed where we work, socialize and entertain ourselves. Two examples: Travelers can now cover the 160 or so miles from the Peninsula to the fringes of Washington in 2 1/2 hours on a good day, barely longer than it once took to get to Richmond's West End. And Peninsula residents think nothing of popping over to Norfolk to visit friends, go to a restaurant or take in a ballgame or concert, a trip made much smoother by interstates.

Interstates continue to occupy a prominent place in our quality of life. Peninsula travelers, having survived the widening of Interstate 64 from Strawberry Banks to J. Clyde Morris Boulevard, now must come to grips with congestion resulting from a new construction project in the vicinity of Patrick Henry Mall. Transportation planners are trying to decide whether to renumber I-64 and Interstate 664 to simplify directions and siphon traffic off the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.

And major decisions must be made as to where the money will come from to resurface aging interstates, replace deteriorating bridges and widen roads to relieve crowding. The last highway construction boom in Virginia, approved 10 years ago, was instrumental in this trend: The average speed during afternoon rush hour in Hampton Roads, rather than dropping, barely changed at all from 1990 to 1995. The General Assembly is studying what to do next to ensure adequate funding for the near future. Keeping interstates up to standards is important, because the roads that once seemed like luxuries for the vacation-bound are now integral in all aspects of life.